updated 03:10 pm EDT, Fri October 14, 2011

US Commerce Department denies Huawei build-out

Chinese telecommunications hardware maker Huawei won't be allowed to participate in the build of LTE emergency networks for first responders in the US, the US Commerce Department ruled, citing national security concerns. The fear is that Huawei's chips, routers and other equipment could be bugged by the Chinese government and therefore reveal sensitive information. Huawei VP for external relations, William Plummer, told the source, The Daily Beast, that the Commerce Department's decision is without merit.

"Given that to the best of Huawei's knowledge neither the Commerce Department nor any other agency of the US government has conducted any audits of our equipment, such a determination seems utterly capricious," he said, before adding that the company's business activities in the US have been unfairly challenged due to "vague" and "supposed" security concerns simply because it's based in China.

Huawei has been denied from making hardware sales for similar reasons in India. Last year in the US, Sprint Nextel chose to block Huawei and ZTE from getting its multi-billion dollar network modernization due to security concerns.